Abela retains Cutajar in spite of four investigations involving her – PN

Prime Minister Robert Abela has retained Rosianne Cutajar as an MP in spite of the fact that she is facing four investigations, the Nationalist Party said.

In a press conference held at the PN headquarters, the two PN representatives on Parliament’s committee on Standards in Public Life said Abela should force Cutajar to resign and, if she doesn’t, he should kick her out of the Labour Party parliamentary group.

Addressing the media, PN MP Karol Aquilina said that it is not true that the PM wants Malta off the FATF grey list. Abela is serving as a defence counsel for Cutajar, Aquilina said.

The report compiled by the Standards Commissioner found that Cutajar had received thousands of euro as a brokerage fee on a deal involving Yorgen Fenech, who is accused of being a mastermind in the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

The report also found that Cutajar had not declared her income from the brokerage in her declaration of assets to Parliament and had also received a € 9,000 gift from Fenech.

PN MP Therese Comodini Cachia said that while Abela knows that Cutajar is being investigated on four accounts, he is protecting her.

Cutajar was investigated by the Standards Commissioner on breach of ethics, and has been found guilty. She is being investigated by the Tax Compliance Unit of the Income Tax Department which is to decide on whether her case is passed on to the police or settled.

Comodini Cachia said Cutajar is also being investigated by the police, a matter she admitted to the Standards Commissioner when she passed on an exchange of messages with Fenech. Cutajar is also under investigation by the Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs of the Council of Europe.

The two PN MPs said that on Monday the Labour Party representatives on the Committee for Standards in Public Life should endorse the Standards Commissioner’s report.